British Airways has apologised for mistakenly playing a pre-recorded emergency announcement warning passengers to prepare for a water landing while they were flying over the Atlantic Ocean.

BA flight 0206 was about half way through its journey from Miami to Heathrow when the message was accidentally played, sending passengers into a panic, the Daily Telegraph reports.

Cabin crew quickly reassured passengers that the message was played by mistake.

A British Airways spokesman said: “The cabin crew cancelled the announcement immediately and sought to reassure customers that the flight was operating normally. We apologise to customers for causing them undue concern.”

In August 2010, BA apologised after a similar message was played by accident on a flight from London Heathrow to Hong Kong.

275 passengers were on board when an automated message was triggered in the cabin, stating: “This is an emergency. We may shortly need to make an emergency landing on water” while the aircraft was flying over the North Sea.